This type of price uncertainty leaves OEM’s and product designers at a genuine crossroads – which material should they specify for their new application? If there are multiple candidate materials which could meet the needs of any given application, product designers are now forced to hypothesize which resins to specify in order to keep their company competitive for months and years moving forward.

There are options available, but all require some combination of cost or creativity. A designer could coordinate efforts with purchasing managers and sourcing experts by looking at historical pricing and global trends to forecast where pricing may go moving forward. Actions in reshoring polyethylene and polypropylene capacity seem favorable, but what will become of PVC, PS, or other viable candidate materials which are experiencing price softening? A second option could be to specify multiple materials, however this costs time, money, and risks putting the brand of the product at risk when consumers build their product expectations with an incumbent material.

Genarex is proud to offer a third solution to many product designers with its newest biobased additive / resin extender, BYLOX HT. While providing a more environmentally responsible product is a “nice to have” at least in the eyes of every forward thinking OEM, this product does more than paint labels green. BYLOX HT is a corn protein isolate which can be used as a functional filler to reduce cost of the fully finished composite product. Given the fluctuations in price we’ve seen recently, BYLOX HT makes sense for part designers who also seek some insulation from the wild volatility inherent to oil and gas based products.